The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 21

When she opened her eyes, Elena found herself in somebodys attic. Its long wooden floorboards and low rafters were thick with dust, and the long room was crowded with objects a hammock, sleds, skis, boxes with words homogeneous Xmas or toddler toys or Bs winter habiliments scribbled on them in corrosive marker. Oilcloths were draped e trulyw here larger objects that qualification be furniture, chairs and tables, by their shapes.At the far end of the room an former(a) mattress lay on the floor, with an oilcloth crumpled at one end, as if someone sleeping at that place had been using it as a makeshift top and had shoved it aside when they rose.Faint traces of pale light showed slightly the edges of a smal shuttered windowpane at the ne atomic number 18r end of the attic. There was a nuts rustling, as if mice were going ab appear their private business behind the furnish of the stored furniture. It was al weirdly known.She looked buns toward the far end of the attic and saw, with forbidden the faintest reek of surprise, that Damon was now sitting on the old mattress, his long black-clad legs drawn up, his elbows resting on his knees. He was managing to give the appearance of lounging graceful y despite his inconvenient position.The places where we meet ar getting less and less elegant, she told him dry outly.Damon laughed and held up his turn over in denial. You pick the locations, princess, he verbalise. This is your show. Im bonnie along for the ride. He paused conceitful y. Okay, thats non entirely true, he confessed. simply you do pick the locations. Where are we, anyway?You dont go to sleep? Elena said with mock indignation.This is a very finicky place for us, Damon Ful of memories You brought me here right after I became a vampire, miserly?He looked around. Oh, yes. The attic of the house where the teacher was staying. Convenient at the age, only youre right an elegant setting suits us both much separate. may I suggest a n ice palace future(a) time? He patted the mattress next to him.Elena, crossing the floor toward him, took a moment to marvel at how receivedistic and detailed her imagine was. Each step she took displace tiny puffs of dust up from the floor. There was a slight pry of mildew She couldnt remember constantly having smel ed anything in a woolgather before these visions of Damon.When she sat down, the mildew smel got stronger. She nestled close to Damon anyway, resting her head on his shoulder, and his leather jacket creaked as he put his arm around her. Elena closed her eyes and sighed. She felt safe and secure within his embrace, feelings she had never associated with Damon, and they were good ones. I miss you, Damon, she said. Please come rump to me.Damon leaned his cheek against her head, and she breathed in the smel of him. Leather and soap and the crazy but pleasant woodsy scent that was Damons own.Im right here, he said.not unfeigned y, Elena said, and her eyes fil ed w ith tears again. She wiped them roughly away with the rearwards of her hands. It feels interchangeable Ive been doing goose egg but crying lately,she said. When Im here with you I feel safer, though. just its bonny a dream. It wont last, this feeling.Damon stiffened. Safer? he said, and there was a strained note in his voice. You arent safe when youre not with me? Isnt my little brformer(a) looking after you mightily?Oh, Damon, you cant imagine, Elena said. StefanShe took a profound breath, put her head in her hands, and began to sob.What is it? Whats happened? asked Damon sharply. When Elena didnt answer, just go along to cry, he took her hands and tugged them gently but firmly away from her face. Elena, he said. Look at me. Has something happened to Stefan?No, said Elena through her tears. Wel , yes, sort of I dont real y know whats happened to him, but hes changed. Damon was looking at her intently, his nightblack eyes set(p) on hers, and Elena made an effort to pul her self together. She hated acting like this, so weak and pathetic, sobbing on someones shoulder instead of cool y formulating a solution to the problem at hand. She didnt want Damon, up to now a dream Damon who was just part of her subconscious, understanding her like this. She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.Damon delved into an inner pocket of his leather jacket and handed her a neatly folded white handkerchief. Elena stared at it, then at him, and he shrugged. Im an oldfashioned lovableman, sometimes, he said, straight-faced.Hundreds of days of linen handkerchiefs. Some habits are hard to break.Elena blew her nose and wiped her cheeks. She didnt quite know what to do with the soggy handkerchief it seemed gross to hand it back to Damon so she just held on to it, twisting it between her hands as she thought. forthwith tel me about whats going on. Whats amiss(p) with Stefan? What happened to him? Damon commanded.Wel Elena said slowly, I dont know whats wr ong with Stefan, and I dont know if anything happened to change him that you dont already know about. Maybe hes just reacting to your you know. It suddenly seemed weird to refer to Damons death when he was sitting next to her impolite somehow but Damon nodded at her to go on. Its been hard on him. And hes been even more tense and weird for the last couple of days. Then, precedent this evening, I was visiting my parents in the cemetery She told Damon about Stefans attack on Caleb. The worst part is that I never suspected this side of Stefan existed, she finished. I cant think of any real reason he had to attack Caleb he just claimed that Caleb wanted me, and that he was dangerous, but Caleb hadnt done anything and Stefan seemed so irrational, and so violent. He was like another person.Elenas eyes were fil ing with tears again, and Damon pul ed her closer, stroking her hair and gently peppering her face with soft kisses. Elena closed her eyes and delaying y relaxed into his arm s. Damon held her more firmly, and his kisses got slower and deeper. Then he was cradling her head with his strong, gentle hands and kissing her mouth.Oh, Damon, she murmured. This was more vivid than any dream shed ever had. His lips were soft and warm, with just a little roughness to them, and it felt like she was fal ing into him. Wait. He kissed her more insistently but, when she pul ed away, let her go.Wait, Elena repeated, sitting up straight. Somehow she had lain back until she was half reclining across the musty old mattress with Damon, her legs manifold with his. She moved away from him, toward the edge of the mattress. Damon, whatevers going on with Stefan scares me. But that doesnt mean Damon, Im stil in love with Stefan.You love me, too, you know, Damon said lightly. His naughty eyes narrowed. Youre not getting rid of me that easily, princess.I do love you, Elena said. Her eyes were dry now. She thought she might be al cried out, at least for the moment. Her voice was quite steady as she added, Il always love you, I guess. But youre dead. And Stefan is my true love, if I had to choose between you, she thought, but did not say. What was the back breaker? Im sorry, Damon, she went on,but youre gone. And Il always love Stefan, but suddenly Im afraid of him, of what he might do. I dont know whats going to happen to us. I thought things would be easy now that were home again, but awful things are stil happening.Damon sighed and lay back on the mattress. He stared up at the detonating device in silence for a moment. Listen, he said final y, drubbing his fingers across his chest. Youve always underestimated Stefans potential for violence.Hes not violent, Elena said hotly. He doesnt even drink human blood.He doesnt drink human blood because he doesnt want to be violent. He doesnt want to lose anyone. But Elena Damon reached out and took her hand my little brothers got a temper. I know that if anyone does.Elena shivered. She knew that, back when they were humans, Stefan and Damon had kil ed each other in a fit of rage over what they thought was Katherines death. Katherines blood had been in both their systems, and they had risen again as vampires that night. Their anger and jealousy over a lost love had done for(p) them both.However, Damon continued, much as it pains me to admit it, Stefan would never hurt you, and wouldnt hurt anyone else without a real reason. Not without the kind of reason you would approve of. Not these days. He might have a temper, but hes also got a conscience. He smirked a little and added, An annoying, self-righteous kind of conscience, of course, but its there. And he loves you, Elena. Youre the whole world to him.Maybe youre right, Elena said. Im scared, though. And I wish you were there with me. She looked at him, as sleepy and confiding as a tired kid now. Damon, I wish you werent dead. I miss you. Please come back to me.Damon smiled and kissed her softly. But then he pul ed away and Elena could f eel the dream changing. She tried to cling to the moment, but it faded and Damon was lost to her again.Please be careful, Damon, said keen-sighted, worry lines marring his bronzed forehead.It wasnt often that the muscular Keeper of the render looked worried or spoke only one language at a time but ever since Damon had staggered back from death and out of the ashes, Sage had spoken softly and clearly to him in English, treating the vampire as if he were likely to shatter at any minute.I universal y am careful, said Damon, leaning against the wal of what they cal ed, for want of a better term, the mystical elevator. Unless Im being heart-stoppingly brave, of course. The words were right, but to Damons own ears, his voice sounded off hoarse and hesitant.Sage seemed to hear the wrongness there, too, and his handsome face tough in a frown. You can stay longer if you want.Damon leaned back against the speak out white wal . I have to go, he said wearily, for what felt like the mil ion th time.Shes in danger. But thank you for everything, Sage.He wouldnt be here now without Sage. The powerful vampire had cleaned Damon up, given him clothes stylish black clothes in the right size and fed him blood and plenteous Black Magic wine until Damon had been hauled back from the edge of death and realized who he was again. But Damon didnt feel like himself. There was a strange empty ache inside him, as if hed left something behind, buried deep under the ash.Sage was stil frowning, staring at him with grave concern. Damon pul ed himself together and gave Sage a sudden bril iant smile. Wish me luck, he said. The smile helped The other vampires face relaxed.Bonne chance, mon ami, he said. I wish you the very best of luck. multilingual again, Damon thought. I must be looking better.Fel s Church, he said into the empty air. The United States, the mortal realm. Somewhere I can hide.He raised a hand in solemn salute to Sage and pushed the elevators single button.Elena woke up i n darkness. She ran a quick and automatic psychic check smooth, fabric-softener-scented cotton sheets, dim light from the window past the bag of her love on the right, the faint sound of Robert snoring in his and auntie Judiths bedroom at the other end of the hal . Her own old familiar room. Home again.She heaved a deep sigh. She didnt feel quite as tangled in despair as she had when she climbed into bed things were dark, but she could admit there was a possibility they might someday get better again. But her eyes and throat felt raw from crying. She missed Damon so much. A floorboard creaked. Elena stiffened. She knew that creak. It was the high, complaining whine the floorboard over near her window gave if you stepped right in the middle of it. Someone was in her room.Elena lay very stil , running through the possibilities. Stefan would have announced himself as soon as he heard her sigh. Was it Margaret, quietly wandering in to crawl into bed with Elena?Margaret? she asked s oftly.There was no answer. Her ears straining, Elena thought she could make out the sound of slow, unfathomed breathing. Suddenly the lamp on her desk was switched on, and Elena was temporarily dazzled by the bright light. She could see only the silhouette of a dark figure.Then her vision cleared. And at the foot of her bed, a half smile on his chiseled face, dark eyes wary, as if he was unsure of his welcome, stood a figure garmented al in black. Damon.